The Hindu : National : Uphold labour laws in IT sector: CPI(M)

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Wednesday, Oct 26, 2005

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National

Uphold labour laws in IT sector: CPI(M)

Special Correspondent

Continues debate on treating it as essential service

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday continued to debate whether the Information Technology sector be included in the essential services while emphasising that there could be no dilution of labour laws in it.

"Labour laws must be upheld in the IT sector. We are against any dilution of labour laws, party Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said after the conclusion of first session of the two-day Polit Bureau meeting that began here. The Polit Bureau started a discussion on the issue and it came in the wake of Mr. Bhattacharjee's statements favouring the inclusion of IT and IT-enabled services in the essential services category. He, however, also made it clear that labour laws should be implemented in these crucial sectors that need to have uninterrupted service.

Another Polit Bureau member and CITU chief M.K. Pandhe said the central trade unions had written to the Labour Ministry about the need to implement labour laws in the IT sector, where the working conditions were like "a 19th century prison'' and the employees working like "slaves''. The issue was whether the sector should be treated at par with essential services such as water, power, milk and hospitals or treat as a moneymaking service.

Later in the evening, party general secretary Prakash Karat told correspondents that a formal statement would be issued on Wednesday after conclusion of discussions.

Bihar elections

Mr. Yechury said the Polit Bureau also reviewed the political situation in the country including the ongoing Bihar elections. Asked about the party stand on foreign direct investment in the retail sector, he said the CPI(M) was opposed to it and had placed its views in writing before the UPA.

The issue would come up for discussion at the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting on October 27, which the Left parties would be attending for the first time after they suspended participation from it since June last week over the Government move to divest its 10 per cent equity in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.

Besides this, the other issue the CPI(M) would like to discuss at the coordination panel meeting would be the foreign policy orientation of the UPA Government.

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